B.C. sends wildfire crews to Alberta, Ontario

The B.C. Wildfire Service has sent nearly 200 firefighters and additional support staff to Alberta and Ontario as fire hazard conditions in northeast B.C. have eased.

Five unit crews with 98 firefighters are arriving in Hinton, Alta. Wednesday for a briefing before heading to the Horse River wildfire near Fort McMurray.

Another five unit crews and an incident management team are heading for Thunder Bay, Ont. on Thursday to help tackle wildfires in northern Ontario.

The deployments are for up to 19 days, and the B.C. personnel can be recalled if fire conditions get worse in B.C.

After significant rain and snow in the Peace region, progress has been made in containing three large fires. The Siphon Creek fire was 40 per cent contained as of Tuesday, with about a third of its estimated 85,000 hectare size having spread into northwestern Alberta.

The Beatton Airport Road fire north of Fort St. John was 80 per cent contained Tuesday, at an estimated size of 15,000 hectares.

The Halfway River fire, 30 km northeast of Hudson’s Hope, was 70 per cent contained at 5,636 hectares on Tuesday.